Henri Charpentier

mmm

Tokyo is filled with many French-inspired Japanese desserts, or perhaps I should it's Japanese-inspired French desserts. Japanese pastry chefs have a special way of incorporating French techniques into Japanese desserts while making tweaks and adjustments to suit the local palate. Even after this sort of cultural amalgamation in the different world of desserts, the resulting taste is not compromised but brought to perfection. In fact, the Japanese is known for their traits in perfecting a task that they are to execute.

At Henri Charpentier, the Japanese-French dessert salon is located in the basement which makes a fabulous spot to getaway from shopping in the luxury shopping area in Ginza. The walk on the stairs is surrounded by a wall made to look like a cookbook library with layers of shelves filled with recipe books and pink hardcover books.

The crepe suzette here stands out in the way it's prepared table side. The server wheels a cart to our table with prep materials for the crepe. The crepe itself is made in the kitchen first but flambeed table side. First, the orange caramel sauce is poured into the saucepan with the crepe. The server uses a spoon and continuously makes sure that the caramel sauce is all over the delicate crepe.

She opens the bottle of Grand Marnier, pours the orange liqueur into a glass, and carefully tilts the glass over the open flame. She then skillfully and gently swirls the glass in a rhythmic fashion over the flame. The liqueur slightly lights up and is poured over the crepe leaving to simmer until the sauce further caramelizes and thickens.

There is no table side showtime for the other item of chocolate crepe with chocolate coffee cream and it turns out to be our favorite among the two items. The level of chocolate is perfect without being too intense or rich; the preserved orange slices add a nice touch to the overall chocolatey-ness of the dessert. We are fans, for sure.

--
Henri Charpentier
3-6-1 Ginza,  
Chuo, Tokyo

Mindy's Hot Chocolate

There's the saying, third time's a charm. For Mindy Segal, the pastry chef and pride of Chicago, it takes doubling a 3-time event before the charm finally happens. For each of the past 6 years, Mindy had been nominated for the prestigious James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. While it is a great honor to be a 6-time nominee in itself for the coveted title, I think her fans (and Mindy herself) were probably beginning to wonder when will she finally be the recipient of the award. Year 2012 must be her lucky year. Chicago foodies celebrate her win for the award and may it never be the last. Her restaurant, named Hot Chocolate, is as befitting of a place where people come for dinner but they really should stay for dessert.

 


T does not like desserts. What? It is true. He is the type of guy who scrapes off all the frosting from his cupcake, tosses the frosting into the trash, and then eats his naked cupcake. He might as well have just eaten a muffin instead.

This place made him fall in love with dessert. I knew we were off to a fantastic start of dessert when despite finishing his entire medium rare steak for dinner, he commented that he had plenty of room left in his stomach for the dessert we were already planning to order. We had seen the dessert menu at the same time we were thinking about our entrees, and I highly recommend you do that so that you will have an idea of how much food your stomach can take in. Remember, the entree portions at Hot Chocolate are huge and the items trend towards the heavy side. Even if you are starving and can eat a horse before placing your orders, look at the tables around you and you will believe me when I say the entree portions, really, are huge. So please, please, be conservative when you order your appetizers and entrees so that you will have room for dessert. After all, isn't that the reason you came to Hot Chocolate for?

Rhubarb cocktail

Usually at dinner, T would tell me that he has no room for dessert and would just eat a bite or two of our shared dessert just to please me. But not that night, no. We each got our own dessert. Among the other items on the dessert menu, Hot Chocolate features a seasonally-changing dessert. When we were there, the kitchen was having a rhubarb special which came with 6 mini dessert courses at $20 per person. Each dessert course was a tasting portion of rhubarb cocktail, rhubarb galette, red velvet cupcake with rhubarb cream cheese, risotto with rhubarb jam, rhubarb+lemon curd, and rhubarb+vanilla sorbet. The very unique dessert creations were truly the ultimate way to taste every iteration possible for rhubarb. T finished his dessert before me, so that was pretty telling.

Risotto with rhubarb jam, rhubarb vanilla sorbet

R to L, clockwise: red velvet cupcake with rhubarb cream cheese, rhubarb+lemon curd, rhubarb galette, risotto with rhubarb jam

As one would expect from the name Hot Chocolate, this place does serve hot chocolate and in several ways too. The list includes half & half which comes with half dark chocolate and half espresso, and black & tan which has a base layer of hot fudge and covered with steamed hot chocolate. All hot chocolate drink orders come with piece of house-made marshmallow. There is a $1 split charge for hot chocolate drinks and it is recommended that you do it especially if you are there for other food and dessert. Pictured below is one person's portion of hot chocolate after splitting it into two for sharing. The hot chocolate is rich and velvety, and it will fill you up.

Hot chocolate with house-made marshmallow

Hot Chocolate gained its fame from its dessert. Heck, even the owner of this restaurant is a pastry chef and not the other way around where usually the executive chef that takes charge of the main menu takes the stage. With that in mind, we were not sure how the entrees would fare but they were definitely very, very good. I ordered the whole grilled branzino fish and to my delight, it was served whole with the head and tail. Saying that I loved it could very well even be an understatement. The skin was charred until crispy and the fish inside was moist and flavorful. I polished the bones clean. While many people prefer to eat their fish in fillet form, I give Hot Chocolate credit for being brave in offering the fish in whole form. After all, seeing fish served whole was a large part of T and my growing up in Asia where it is common practice at restaurants and at home. The whole grilled branzino at Hot Chocolate was served in the most purist and clean way with fresh cilantro, dill, shaved fennel, and capers on top. It was just like the way Jamie Oliver would do it.

Whole grilled branzino fish

When a non-steak restaurant can prepare their steak that exceeds expectations, you know the kitchen takes things seriously. As requested, his steak was prepared to a perfect level of medium rare just as requested. It was neither overcooked nor undercooked, but the meat inside was a perfect reddish pink with the jus threatening to ooze out each time he sliced with the knife a bite-size piece. Even at popular steakhouses, we have had to send our overcooked steaks back to the kitchen.

Medium rare steak with bearnaise sauce and grilled asparagus

After being closed for a few months due to remodeling, this place has reopened and the revamped Hot Chocolate is now a rustic place and perhaps a little grunge. It is no longer the romantic and dimly lit place it once was, but we are loving every bit of this new concept.

Sweet potato wedge with skin, duck confit, and bleu cheese

--
Mindy's Hot Chocolate
1747 N Damen Ave
Chicago, IL 60647

Accolades
2006 James Beard Award Nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef
2007 James Beard Award Nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef
2008 James Beard Award Nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef
2009 James Beard Award Nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef
2010 James Beard Award Nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef
2011 James Beard Award Nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef
2012 James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef

Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

T and I always feel like we have hit the jackpot when either of us successfully convinces the other person that a certain type of food that may be a favorite for one of us but is totally not favored by the other can taste good. And in fact it can be more than just good. A story which we still talk about today is how he convinced me that eggplant can taste good. T absolutely loves eggplant and I really do not, or at least I did not. I blame it on the previous times I had eaten overcooked-until-mushy eggplant when I was young. That was where we had conflicting ideas when it came to grocery shopping or making dinner at home. He lamented that he never got to cook and eat eggplant at home since we eat the same food at home. One day a few months back I felt like being nice and said, Alright we can have eggplant at home. I'll eat it. I promise. And he made the best grilled eggplant dish ever. All he did in response was grin and shook his head with the I-told-you-so look.


 

A few days ago when I announced that I was going to make some peanut butter cookies, T said umm I don't really like peanut butter cookies. I said, What? But you love peanut butter! How can you not like peanut butter cookies? He replied, Yeah, I love peanut butter but I don't like peanut butter cookies. And I was on a mission to make him a convert.

I came home from work one evening to hear T tell me, by the way I had some of those peanut butter cookies on the kitchen counter... they were so good.

There, mission accomplished. These peanut butter cookies did it.

 

Note: Many peanut butter cookie recipes call for smooth peanut butter but I always use crunchy peanut butter because I like having the little nuts in the cookies.

Inspired by David Lebovitz's Peanut Butter Cookies. Makes about 36 cookies.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 large egg, room temperature

Method

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment set on medium speed, beat together the butter, granulated and brown sugars, and peanut butter until just smooth. Beat in the egg.  Add in the flour mixture and mix until well combined and dough comes together.

3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or at least for 2 hours. The longer the rest time for the dough, the better the ingredients can meld together so that the cookies will be soft and chewy upon baking.

4. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Pinching off pieces of dough, roll them into balls about 1 inch in size. Place each ball 3 inches apart from each other on the baking sheets. When the baking sheets are filled, use the back of the tines of a fork to slightly flatten each ball while making a crosshatch pattern.

6. Bake the cookies, while rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, for 9 minutes. The cookies should begin to brown at the edges but the centers still look a little uncooked. Removing the cookies from the oven before they look done will make them stay soft and chewy after they have cooled to room temperature.

7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until they become firm enough to handle. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.

Lemon Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream Frosting

We spent most of our 4th of July weekend doing things that revolved around what we love best: food and running. The weather was beautiful and sunny; the sky was consistently blue without the slightest hint of clouds. We ran along the trails of gorgeous Lake Michigan to the view of boats docked at the harbor. We also got together with friends over food, beer, and whiskey to celebrate a birthday. 

The holiday weekend isn't exactly over for us yet. We're back to work just for two days and then we're bound for Las Vegas, again. It will be another food-filled weekend again. For now we will be feasting on these light and airy lemon cupcakes at home. Cupcakes are whimsical in their own right. Who can resist one? 

Ingredients

Makes 10 cupcakes

Lemon Cupcakes

1 cup + 2 tablespoons cake flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

2 large egg whites

3/4 cup buttermilk

Frosting

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

Method

Lemon Cupcakes

1. Place rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven at 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the lemon zest and lemon extract until well combined.

4. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the egg whites and buttermilk.

5. Add 1/3 portion of the flour mixture into the butter and sugar mixture and beat until just combined. Pour in half of the liquid mixture and continue beating. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add another 1/3 portion of the flour mixture and then the remaining liquid mixture. Continue to beat until just combined. Finally add in the remaining portion of the flour mixture and beat until well combined.

6. Pour the batter into the cupcake liners until 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

Coconut Buttercream Frosting

1. Simmer the water and sugar in a small saucepan until sugar is completely melted. When the water temperature reaches 150 degrees F, remove saucepan from the heat.

2. Place the egg yolks in the bowl of the electric mixer. Slowly pour in the hot syrup. Using the paddle attachment, beat until the mixture has cooled down.

3. Beat in the butter one tablespoon at a time. Add in the vanilla extract. Continue beating until the frosting becomes smooth and thick.

4. Pipe the frosting over the cupcakes. Note: refrigerating the frosting will help firm it up a little which makes the piping process easier.

5. Sprinkle the dessicated coconut over the frosted cupcakes.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

Munching on these soft and chewy cookies brings us back to a kitchen incident in which T and I still chuckle over. Clearly, two people working in the kitchen at the same time but for entirely different reasons could be quite a challenge. The chilled dough was ready to go in the oven and T was working on making dinner in front of the stove. The cookies were baked in four separate batches; after a batch was done, in goes another batch into the oven, and so on until all the cookie dough was baked. Between putting the news batches of dough into the oven and taking them out when the timer rings, I was in the room working on the computer. So focused on making dinner, I must say that T was probably quite oblivious to the fact that I was baking the cookies in several batches and that was why I was disappearing from and appearing again in the kitchen multiple times.

The timer rang for the last batch of cookies; they were ready. I opened the oven door and upon taking the baking sheet out of the oven I thought aloud, "This is very strange. Why are the cookies hardly done?" Upon hearing me, T came to a realization and exclaimed "Oh no, when I saw you taking out the previous batch from the oven I thought you were done with baking and had forgotten to turn the oven off so I turned it off! I didn't see the last batch of cookies going into the oven." Adding to the summer warmth, the heat from cooking in front of the stove as well as from the oven was getting to T so he thought he was helping out the "forgetful" me for "forgetting" to turn the oven off.

The first three batches before the oven incident were perfect; they were soft and chewy. The cookies are very sensitive to baking time in order to achieve the right level softness and chewiness. Over baking by two minutes can turn a chewy cookie into a crunchy one. As for the last batch of cookies with the oven incident, let's just say they came in pretty close. T felt terrible and said he would eat the cookies from the last batch. I made sure he ate the perfect and the less perfect ones.

 

Adapted from by David Lebovitz's Chocolate Chip Cookies. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 oz semisweet baking chocolate, chopped into 1/4 - 1/2 inch chunks

4 oz bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped into 1/4 - 1/2 inch chunks

1 1/2 cups pecans, toasted and chopped coarsely

Method

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars under medium speed until just smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then add in the vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture in three batches. Combine the chopped chocolate and nuts and stir until well combined.

3. On a slightly floured surface, divide the dough into quarters. Shape each quarter into a log until about 9 inches in length. Tightly wrap the logs individually with parchment paper. Chill and let the logs sit in the fridge for at least 6 hours; they turn out best if you let them sit in the fridge for 24 hours. If during the first few hours you find the logs not holding its shape entirely, gently shape it back to a log. As the dough chills longer, the more firm it becomes and thus will hold its shape better.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Position the oven racks so that they are on the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Using a sharp knife, slice the logs into disks about 3/4 inch thick. Place the disks 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, until the center is very lightly browned, for 10 minutes.

6. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle. Using a spatula, gently lift the cookies and transfer to a cooling rack.

Apple Pie

Apple pies are one of those classic pies that make a lot more appearances on the table come fall and during the holiday season. There's just something comforting about homemade apple pies and I don't think I can get tired of them. I would be making apple pies more often if it wasn't because the husband T isn't very much a dessert person (unless the dessert is amazing). Baking a 9-inch pie for a two-person household can be tricky. This Christmas however we had two friends over for dinner and what great reason to make an apple pie.

I believe I've possibly found the best apple pie recipe, or at least the best apple pie recipe which I've come across. There may be other better recipes out there, but at this point, Dorie Greenspan's recipe is a winner for me. I love her recipes and this one worked out terrific. The husband took a bite of it and said, "Wow I would eat this everyday". Maybe now it is not such a bad idea for me to bake 9-inch pies just for the both of us at home, as long as it tastes good. Our friend at dinner commented that the crust was so good he could eat it on it's own.

We have a bottle of apple pie liqueur at home that has been sitting among the rest of our whiskey and wine bottles at home. It was one of those purchases where I knew I wanted to have it when I saw it at the store although I hadn't quite decided yet how I would use it. I added some of the liqueur to the apple chunks and they were lovely. What a great way to bring the pie up a notch.

Preparing the Double crust

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks (10 oz) very cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening, frozen preferred and cut into 4 pieces
About 1/2 cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Alternately, put in a mixing bowl with the dough hook attachment and mix on low speed just to combine the ingredients.

Drop butter and shortening pieces into the mixing bowl and mix until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour mixture. The dough will become like some pieces the size of big peas ans others a little smaller.

Still on low speed, gradually add 8 tablespoons of the ice water. Continue adding the water bit by bit until the dough becomes moistened and stick together. The dough will come away from the sides of the mixing bowl. If the dough is still not moist enough, add more ice water gradually by the tablespoon.

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and put onto a work surface. Divide the dough into half and gather each half into a ball. Flatten each ball into a disk and wrap each half with plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.


Preparing the Pie

6 very large apples, variety of sweet, tart, and crisp
3/4 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons apple pie liqueur (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons bread crumbs or panko
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Generously butter a 9-inch pie plate.

On a floured surface or on wax paper, roll out one piece of the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Transfer the dough onto the buttered pie plate and trim the dough edges until it just overhangs from the plate. Roll the other piece of dough into a thickness of 1/8 inch and slip it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover both dough pieces on the baking sheet and in pie plate with plastic and refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Peel, core, and cut the apples into bite size chunks. Put the apple pieces into a large bowl and add the sugar, lemon zest, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, liqueur, and salt. Toss everything together and well combined. Let sit for 5 minutes until juice starts to accumulate in the bottom of the bowl.


Assembling the Pie

Remove the pie plate and top crust from refrigerator. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the bottom crust (this prevents the bottom crust from being too soggy from the juice the apple mixture). Add the apple pieces together with the juice in the bottom of the bowl over the bottom crust. Drop bits of cold butter over the apples.

Center the top crust over the apples and press the top crust against the bottom crust on the edge of the pie plate. Trim the overhang from both crusts so that the crusts are even with the rim of the pie plate. Use a fork to press down the edges of the crusts.

Use a sharp knife to make 6 slits on the top crust. Brush the top crust with a little milk and sprinkle it with sugar.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 375 degrees F and bake for another 50 to 60 minutes, with the total baking time between 65 to 75 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the juices bubble up through the top crust. After 40 minutes in the oven, if the top crust is browning too quickly, cover the pie loosely with foil.

Transfer the pie to a rack and let cool until warm or room temperature before serving.